Charlie Blackmon lifted his leg like a dog on a walk while he was midslide trying to steal second base in the first inning Monday night.

The Rockies’ leadoff hitter broke into a sprint, slid feet-first, then saw a tag coming his way. So he improvised. Blackmon raised his leg like Bow Wow ready for a, uh, break. It worked. The tag missed. Safe at second.

“I knew I was going to be dead out. So I was like, I’ll slide in there and get my foot out early and bank on him sweep-tagging me. I tried to give him the abracadabra and pull my leg back. And it worked. I was very surprised.”

It’s not something that Blackmon practices. It just happened.

“No, I knew what was going to happen. He was going to catch the ball and tag me. It happened really fast. I thought it might work. And it did.”

Rockies right-hander Jon Gray, who faces the Padres Saturday night, will be on a strict pitch count the rest of the season. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

This is my opinion: I thought the Rockies should have allowed Jon Gray to go out for the seventh inning when he pitched against the Mets at Citi Field last week. As part of his development, I thought Gray would have benefited from pitching another inning, in a tight game, on a big stage, vs. a playoff contender.

Gray was brilliant, allowing one run on one hit over six innings. He threw just 75 pitches and left the game with a 2-1 lead. Nevertheless, Rockies manager Walt Weiss never hesitated about pulling Gray after six innings.

Gray pitches again against the Padres Saturday night at Coors Field. Before the game, I asked Weiss about the club’s blueprint in developing Gray.

Q: “The decision on when to pull Gray — because of innings or pitch count — is that on your shoulders or is that coming from above, from GM Jeff Bridich? Do you have any wiggle room?”

Weiss: “No, there are pretty specific parameters in place when he takes the mound. There may be a little bit of wiggle room, but we aren’t going to mess a whole lot with those parameters.”

Q: “Is 75 pitches the ballpark pitch count?”

Weiss: “Yeah, but some of it is dependent on his previous start or the previous couple of starts. Again, we have the big picture of the innings he’s going to end up logging this year as opposed to last year. We will watch how much of an increase that is. That’s what we’ve got our eyes on.”

Q: “Playing devil’s advocate for a minute. In his last start, when he was so good, were you tempted to let him go out for another inning because of the experience he might get, in a tight game, against the Mets, on a big stage? Are there benefits to that? Or are those outweighed.”

Weiss: “They are outweighed. This is the plan. This is not something that was developed on a whim. It was developed from a lot of conversations and a lot of information we put together.”

A top pitching prospect picked his way through seven-plus innings Tuesday at Coors Field. His name was Andrew Heaney.

At 24 years old, the rookie Heaney pitched in just his third game this season for the Angels and first away from Anaheim. He won his first major-league game last week, against the Yankees. Against the Rockies, he allowed two runs on eight hits. He struck out five in 7 ⅓ innings. The Angels blasted the Rockies, 10-2.

PHOENIX — Jenny Cavnar has quite a baseball pedigree. She gets a chance to exhibit it in a new forum — and make some history — beginning Thursday night when the Rockies take on the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Cavnar, a sideline reporter and studio host for ROOT Sports Rockies coverage since 2012, will join Jack Corrigan and Jerry Schemmel in the KOA radio booth for Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s games.

It was Corrigan who asked Cavnar to help out with the KOA broadcast. According to KOA, Cavnar is the first woman to do color commentary on the radio for a National League team.

Suzyn Waldman has been the color commentator for New York Yankees baseball, working with John Sterling on radio broadcasts, since 2005, first for WCBS-AM and currently for WFAN in New York City.

Corrigan and Schemmel will be splitting time with ROOT Sports TV coverage, filling in for usual play-by-play man Drew Goodman for those three games. Goodman will rejoin the ROOT broadcast team for Sunday afternoon’s game.

In the second year of baseball’s manager’s challenge video replay review system, the Rockies may have found their first review of a review Wednesday in the third inning at Coors Field.

With the Astros ahead 3-0, with two outs, Charlie Blackmon stole second base. But his momentum bounced him up off the bag and Houston shortstop Carlos Correa held a tag his leg. So Astros manager A.J. Hinch challenged the call. It was an easy video replay decision and the call was overturned.

Then it got weird. Blackmon was clearly out. But Colorado manager Walt Weiss stormed out to argue with crew chief Jerry Layne, who was the ump at second base. Weiss, though, wasn’t arguing the out call. He was upset that Houston even put in a claim.

Rockies pitcher Jorge De La Rosa is on the verge of becoming the winningest pitcher in franchise history. (Ben Margot, The Associated Press)

Miami — Jorge De La Rosa can make Rockies history Sunday afternoon if he can beat the Miami Marlins.

The veteran left-hander needs one win to become the franchise leader in wins, with 73. He’s currently tied with right-hander Aaron Cook with 72. Earlier this season, De La Rosa became the franchise leader in career strikeouts, passing Ubaldo Jimenez on May 21. Jimenez had 773 strikeouts from 2006-2011. De La Rosa has 788 career Ks in a Rockies uniform.

To set the victory record on Sunday, De La Rosa could use a little help from an offense that is taking an early summer siesta. During the current four-game losing streak that began Wednesday at Coors Field against the Cardinals, the Rockies have scored four runs on just 25 hits. They have walked a grand total of four times, while striking out 38 times.

Stanton question: Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton — who leads the majors with 23 homers and 59 RBIs — has pounded the Rockies in the first three games of this four-game series. He’s hit .545 (6-for-11) with two homers, two doubles, eight RBIs and three runs scored.

Why not just pitch around him? Or at least pitch to him extra carefully? That was the question I posed to manager Walt Weiss Sunday morning.

“That’s been our game plan all series,” Weiss said. “But it’s tough when the guys in front of him are getting on base and there is nowhere to put him. Still, we are trying to pitch him carefully, but any mistake we have made has been hammered. He’s really locked in right now.”

Dickerson update: The news on Corey Dickerson Sunday morning was better than it was Saturday night when he left the game in pain the sixth inning when the plantar fasciitis in his left foot flared up.

“It’s better, not nearly as bad as it was before I went on the DL,” Dickerson said. “I wasn’t scheduled to play today anyway. I’ll be back on the field soon.”

Said Weiss: “Corey’s actually doing pretty well today. It was good news. He wasn’t going to be in the lineup today anyway after his foot flared up last night. I want to pick spots to get him off his feet, so that will be the plan moving forward.”

Rockies manager Walt Weiss says his game plan all along was to use Rafael Betancourt as his closer in the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader vs. the Dodgers.(Denver Post file photo)

It provided buzz on sports-talk radio Wednesday. It was a hot topic on Twitter and in cryptic emails to a certain Rockies beat writer. That would be me.

But manager Walt Weiss was emphatic that he would not have done anything differently.

The debate centered on why Weiss used 40-year-old right-handed reliever Rafael Betancourt in the ninth inning Tuesday night to try and close out the Los Angeles Dodgers.

‘Raffy’ was the obvious choice. He’s got many, many big-league saves. He has thrown the ball well for us this year. … For me, it was a no-brainer.”
— Rockies manager Walt Weiss

The decision backfired when Betancourt gave up three consecutive singles, got two outs and then threw a 1-2, 91 mph fastball over the heart of the plate that Alex Guerrero hit for the first grand slam of his big-league career. The ball sailed just out of the reach of center fielder Charlie Blackmon.

The slam won the game, 9-8, for the Dodgers, spoiling Colorado’s chance for a doubleheader sweep.

Wednesday, Weiss stood by his decision.

When I asked Weiss if he considered using any other reliever, he answered: “I considered everybody that was out there, (but) ‘Raffy’ was the obvious choice. He’s got many, many big-league saves. He has thrown the ball well for us this year. He had the one hiccup the other day in Philly, when he was sick. For me, it was a no-brainer.”

Rockies right-handed reliever Brooks Brown came off the 15-day disabled list Saturday in time for a doubleheader with the Giants. ( Justin Edmonds, Getty Images)

The Rockies did some bullpen shuffling before Saturday’s doubleheader against the Giants at Coors Field.

Hard-throwing right-hander Brooks Brown returned from the 15-day disabled list, saying his shoulder feels strong again. To make room on the 25-man roster, the Rockies placed lefty reliever Ken Roberts on the DL with left elbow inflammation. The club doesn’t think it’s a serious injury, but they are watching it carefully.

The Rockies and Giants can both expand their rosters to 26 players for the second game of the doubleheader, and in the Rockies’ case, the 26th man will be starting pitcher David Hale, who will make his Rockies debut.

A lone fan stands in the left field grandstand to watch the Rockies commit a final out against the Giants after a rain delay in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

The Rockies and Giants returned to Coors Field late Friday night to finish a long-delayed ninth inning. They ran out to a rain-soaked outfield with a sulfur smell in the air and smoke around the stadium lights.

It all ended five hours and 27 minutes after it started.

In one of the strangest games at the house of weird, Coors Field, the Rockies and Giants finally finished the ninth inning after rain-delay, in-game fireworks; a for-naught singles rally in the last half inning; a towering third-deck homer; a pretty good start from Rockies veteran Kyle Kendrick; and a very good start from Giants lefty Ryan Vogelsong.

“That was very strange, to watch fireworks before the game was over,” Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu said. “But I guess you have to make the fans happy so they can leave.”

Troy Tulowitzki is tagged out at home by Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp in the third inning Thursday at Coors Field. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

Base path acumen is a difficult piece of baseball to quantify, at least in total. Fangraphs gives it a shot with their Base Running (BsR) stat. They take stolen bases, caught-stealings, extra bases, times throw out, etc., and pile them up into a number that is either above (+) or below (-) league average.

The Rockies, not surprisingly, ranked second to last in baseball before Thursday at -5.0. Only the White Sox, 30th at -10.4, are worse.

Jorge De La Rosa pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during an MLB game on Tuesday, June 9, 2015. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Jorge De La Rosa, on an 84-mph splitter, struck out Philadelphia’s Freddy Galvis in the fourth inning Thursday at Coors Field. And with it, he set the Rockies’ franchise record for career strikeouts, with 774.

De La Rosa, in his eighth season with Colorado, takes over the Rockies strikeout record in 885 2/3 innings pitched for the club. Jimenez, in five-plus seasons with the Rockies, recorded 773 strikeouts in 851 innings.

De La Rosa struck out the side in the second, including Cameron Rupp, who whiffed swinging at an 84-mph splitter. That gave De La Rosa four Ks in the first two innings as he tied Jimenez’s record.

Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau is still dealing with concussion-like symptoms. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau, on baseball’s special seven-day disabled list as he deals with concussion-like symptoms, is going to be out a while longer.

The reigning National League batting champion is eligible to come off the DL on Friday, but manager Walt Weiss said Thursday that Morneau’s return is on hold.

“It’s probably not just (seven-days),” manager Walt Weiss said before the Rockies hosted the Phillies at Coors Field. “I’m not going to say it’s going to be a whole lot longer than that, but he’s not going to be in the lineup in two days.”

For a late-inning, go-ahead home run, Nick Hundley’s line drive shot in the eighth inning Tuesday against the Phillies had more oomph behind it for the Rockies.

“So far this year, yeah,” Hundley said.

Hundley, after turned a Justin De Fratus slider in a 1-2 count into a solo HR to left-center that led the Rockies to a 6-5 victory, calmly walked to the dugout. Then when he got to the top step, Hundley fired up. He high-fived his teammates like he was testing their hand strength.

Nick Hundley points at first base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt while being held back by first base coach Eric Young as he argues a strike call in the eighth inning against the Phillies. (Justin Edmonds, Getty Images)

Nick Hundley looked back at the video of his ejection Monday and came to grips with the check-swing strike call against him. But he didn’t accept his ejection — and he wasn’t about to say the Rockies are close to turning around their losing streak.

The Colorado catcher got tossed in the eighth inning after he flied out to left field. Earlier in the at-bat, first base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt handed him strike 2 for a check swing. Hundley didn’t like it and waved his hand at the ump.

Then when Hundley ran through first base, he exchanged some words with Wednestedt.

Friday’s fifth inning at Coors Field was a weird scene. The Dodgers led 2-1 and the rain was pouring down in sheets. But they kept playing — because, by rule, the Rockies had another half-inning to try to rally.

Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon was on second base, after he walked then stole over. Los Angeles pitcher Brett Anderson was hustling his pitches to the plate, soaked with water, trying to get the inning done before even more rain.

Corey Dickerson hit a grounder up the middle to second base. Justin Turner made a nice play to cut off the ball, then throw to first. But Dickerson was safe. And Blackmon, seeing that first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was facing away, broke for home.

In that instance, if Blackmon scores and the Rockies tie, then the game would not be called off. If he’s out, and the rain keeps up, the game can end early and stand at 2-1.

The Rockies lost a seventh consecutive game Wednesday, after dropping two against the Arizona Diamondbacks in a doubleheader at Coors Field. The day game was a walk-a-thon disaster. The evening rematch was barely better.

“Bottom line is, we have to play better baseball,” he said. “We’ll see what we’re made of.”

In the seven-game skid, the Rockies are pitching their way into trouble. Starters are getting bounced early. And the lineup, what was supposed to be among the best in baseball, is faltering. Here are the numbers:

PHOENIX — Tyler Matzek shuffled to first base in the sixth inning Monday at Chase Field, trying to leg out a grounder with the bases loaded and two outs. The fact he was even batting in that spot — the Rockies led by three runs, but ended up winning by just one — was a vote of confidence for him returning for the later innings.

But one pitch into the bottom of the sixth, a ball to Yasmany Tomas, left Matzek hobbled. He left the game with a left hamstring cramp after just 80 pitches.

“I feel fine,” Matzek said after the game. “It cramped up in a few warmup pitches that inning. Nothing is wrong.”

Matzek allowed five hits and two runs through five. He was hurling a fastball with his best command of the season, despite three walks. And he had a chance to reach the eighth.

“That’s the disappointing thing,” he said. “I had an opportunity to go deep in the game, help our bullpen out a little bit. Then something stupid like this prevented me.”

Manager Walt Weiss said he expects Matzek to make his next start, likely Sunday in San Diego. He said Matzek’s injury wasn’t a tear or a strain of the muscle.

“I don’t think it’s any of those. It was just cramping up on him,” Weiss said.

Matzek leads Rockies starters with a 2.70 ERA over 20 innings. Over 10 starts dating to last season, Matzek’s ERA is even lower — at 1.63 with a 6-2 record. In his past nine starts, he’s allowed five hits or less.

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.